Between honor and duty
by Ares-sama
Summary: -If a day will come when your father would have to choose between his honor on the one hand, and his loved ones on the other, what would he do? -" His father would do what was right, even if it meant sacrificing happiness of his family .


**Summary:**

-If a day will come when your father would have to choose between his honor on the one hand, and his loved ones on the other, what would he do? -" His father would do what was right, even if it meant sacrificing happiness to him. his family.

Given the injustices facing the kingdom, the abandonment of the people, the indifference of the Lords and Nobles of the Kingdom before the decline, Eddard" Ned "Stark, decides to play the Game of Thrones, after all has his own candidate for the throne who He carries his blood and decides to make peace with old enemies for the sake of the kingdom ..

Will he be able to get to the end while trying to create a balance between his honor, his duty and his desires to protect his family, or will it be his desire to protect the entire kingdom who will make him lose everything?

**Notes: **Hello everyone, I hope this story is of your complete pleasure.

In this story I really want to tell a little about OC Ned, imagine how things would change if Ned decided to go further, get out of his honor and decide to play the game of thrones to do a greater good and what sacrifices he is willing to make to achieve it. .  
This first chapter is more a set of brief narrations of the first season or the first book of the series, clearly with its clear and reflected differences

A strong thanks to Fernando Palacios for translating this story which is originally written in the Spanish language.

* * *

THE DECISION

I

* * *

"Oh my dear Ned!" Lyanna commented softly while caressing her face with sadness "Love can not change a man like Robert, he just wants to drink, fuck maidens and fight even if it's with his own bannerman" Ned tried to refute him , tell him that was not true. That Robert would love her and respect her with all her strength, that he would never act recklessly and that the drink was the fault of his youth as well as his great love for the maidens, but Lyanna's gaze indicated that no matter what that thought said about Robert was not going to change.

That old memory came to his mind with sadness and disconsolation in those moments when he really doubted if he was doing the right thing. Despite his constant attempts and having the support of the Lord Commander of the Royal Guard, he failed to convince Robert not to send killers after the girl since in the end the King's word was only a way to prevent him from leaving back to the north where he belonged.

Fail to prevent the death of an innocent at least that's what he thought. Now he could only watch in silence as Robert had turned the tournament of the Hand into a celebration party for the death of Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen

The last dragons had died, Varys said promptly that morning, he felt really disconsolate and deceived since Robert came to swear he would not send anyone - He lied to me - In his own face, he left aside friendship, brotherhood who so professed only to commit murder because of his own desires and selfish feelings of avenging a lie, to avenge Lyanna who not only never loved him, also came to hate him, but that Robert did not know.

Maybe Lyanna was right about Robert and that saddened him greatly, maybe his feelings of brotherhood towards his old friend blinded him in such a way that it cost his sister at some point in his life and now while he saw the King shout with joy, while trying to stand up in his high state of drunkenness causing half a kingdom burst into laughter at those times, he began to wonder if maybe it was a mistake to name him as King.

The capital was infested by the corruption that was largely sponsored by the same officials of the Court and the Crown, the deceptions were made even between siblings and parents and children, not to mention the spies of all those who played this twisted game watching in silence until the most insignificant movement that a person could make.

Several issues consumed his thoughts, little cared to see the knights break their spears in the jousts and less interesting was to see the different swordsmen compete in the arena just to see who endured more hits.

It did not matter, this tournament that became a coarse celebration of the death of a boy who had delusions of grandeur and his sister a girl barely older than his own and who surely barely understood what was happening around his life.

Poor Daenerys, Ned thought as he watched Ser Barristan walk away from many when the news was reported to mourn in silence for the last remnant of the Dragon Dynasty that he swore to serve - if only

he knew the truth - Ned thought uneasily as he continued to see from the stands as Robert now fell or rather rolled down the stairs after not being able to support his own weight due to his drunken state and the little decorum he was demonstrating

Queen Cersei, tired of the king's attitude, got up and left quickly, while the boy, Joffrey, seemed entertained by the antics of his father's theoretically-could my theories be true? and if they were, should I tell Robert? If Robert kills these children he would not forgive him - At least he thought the two younger children were innocent.

Something was not right with the older one, with Joffrey who gave him a sense of great uneasiness. How could I prove that these children were the children of Cersei and Jaime? This must have been the secret that ended up causing the death of Jon Arryn, the Lannister must have poisoned him when he discovered the secret.

What should I do? Notify Robert immediately or he should have compassion and first ask Cersei to try to escape Robert's wrath. If Cersei were to flee, he would go to his father's house, a war against the Lannisters is not a minor matter that could be taken lightly.

He needed allies or at least reliable people in this nest of snakes and rats.

* * *

**II**

* * *

He felt that an important part of him broke when the news and denunciations of Renly Baratheon arrived. He thought he might try some approach with Stannis, but the rigid man and great commander he once knew seemed incredibly a religious fanatic of a cult of Essos.

"The Septs have been burned, the divine representations of the gods destroyed"

Everyone seems to hold their breath while listening to the young Baratheon, the crown should act with these events that occurred in the lands directly controlled by Stannis. Ned is somewhat hopeful when he sees Robert's gaze, hopes that he will act as an advocate of the Faith and have his brother reconsider.

Robert gets up and goes hunting for a week. Ned remains last in the great royal council without being able to really believe it, only a few minutes later Varys approaches who tells him that they will soon bring the body of Viserys, but unfortunately the body of the girl could not be rescued.

Ned does not understand what the man's game is, he knows perfectly well that this type of news makes him sick, but he decides not to tell him anything, he just gets up and prepares to leave in silence.

The Royal Council decided nothing, Robert immediately went to continue with his celebrations and Ned, he really had no idea how he should act now, it was obvious that he could not go to Stannis as an ally, not when the Kingdom would take his actions as an offense to the believers of the seven.

He lost his most important ally, even before formalizing any alliance with him.

Now he had only a few options left, maybe he should go and tell Robert the truth about Cersei, the problem is that he did not have a proof beyond the old book, the words of Jon Arryn and his own honor.

It is in those moments Lord Baelish approaches with a slight smile on his face and feels for the first time in a long time a great annoyance towards another person - He really wants to hit that petulant smile - But he is a Stark and his honor prevents him.

Even so, to his chagrin he spends the next week talking and dealing with Baelish, he must find a way to help with the finances of the kingdom, unfortunately while Robert prolonged his expensive whims this will be impossible.

He is upset when he is informed that a large sum of crown money is destined to pay nobles, knights, fathers and husbands for the King's dishonorable acts towards his wives, he does not want to ask how much he is destined for the brothels of the city.

* * *

**III**

* * *

Continuing with his research while walking through the corridors, she finds her daughter Arya playing, trying to keep her balance as if she were some kind of statue. He does not really understand the game very much, but Arya really seemed to be excited.

t's a good thing Ned thinks, that his youngest daughter finally finds something to have fun with other than fighting with her sister.

When Arya tells him that tomorrow she will go hunting cats, he tries not to laugh loudly, he never really expected that answer, but her little one is happy and that is the only thing that matters at that moment.

He decides to stay by his side, only observing him in silence, but calmly. Her daughter falls and she gets up again, her chest swells up with a certain pride when she does not fear a couple of slips, but starts to laugh happily.

She is happy and that was the only thing that mattered.

But when she starts talking about Bran about whether he could come to visit them along with Jon, a part of Ned feels really divided. His son was now a cripple and could not be a knight as always was his dream, that really hurt too much apart from it was the matter of Jon, his nephew, who everyone considered his bastard son.

Jon got upset when he was forbidden to join the night watch, he wanted the boy to think better about it, to try to explore new aspects of life before joining an order like the Guard to which he belonged forever. He can not come to the capital, no matter how he thought it, the answer he found was that someone could find a connection between Jon and Rhaegar.

Even so, he tries to cheer up Arya, telling him that some day Bran could become an important Lord, have his own house and a place in the same royal council. Arya seems to cheer up a bit until Ned mentions something similar to her.

"I can be a lady of a castle"

Ned gives him a sad smile.

"You will marry a great lord, you will rule his castle and your children will be knights, princes and lords, maybe even a high sept or a grand master"

Ned hoped to content her with those words, but Arya looks at him with disappointment and sadness, she gets up and tells him that that was not something proper to her.

For some reason he fears seeing his sister Lyanna's reflection on his youngest daughter, he has a bad feeling about it.

He does not decide to say anything else in those moments, he just remains silent while Arya continues with his games or his training according to his point of view of her. Every time he looked at her he felt a great emptiness inside him, as if something were about to happen that would destroy his little girl's dreams.

That afternoon he decides to face the Queen.

Cersei not only surprises him, she really refuses to leave and instead gives him a warning, that he should be careful with his words. that he will return to his infertile north or face his wrath.

The queen clearly does not fear Robert's wrath.

or maybe she thinks that her husband did not return from the hunt, but while talking to the Queen she finds out something, someone has been telling her everything about his family, about his plans to get her daughters out of town quickly.

Faced with this accusation Ned feels insulted, he clearly speaks that his daughters want to go to see his brother Bran who just woke up, but he was still really serious about his health.

The queen seems scared or maybe worried about that news even so she decides to give him a final warning about leaving. Ned thinks about it and fears the worst, he makes the decision not to tell his daughters anything, especially Sansa fears that it was his daughter and his youthful love towards the boy Joffrey who has blinded her in such a way that she does not realize the danger that represents the queen.

* * *

**IV**

* * *

Lord Baelish informs him that his wife is in the capital, he does not know how to act or even if he must believe in his words. But he agrees to accompany the man, in the middle of the road he finds the city more and more agitated, the people are abandoned in the fields and Ned does not understand it, there is peace in the kingdom, why the common people come so desperately to the city? .

The taxes

He stopped talking to some farmers and realizes that not only the crown owes millions, it also charges millions in taxes which seemed not to reach directly into the coffers of the kingdom.

He looks directly at Lord Baelish who seems really upset that he stopped talking to the simplest people in the city, at least he does not hear anything he was told or he was sure that the currency counselor would kill those men for daring to give such statements to the Hand of the King.

His wife is hiding in a brothel causing him to feel totally offended, he really wanted to kill the man if it were not for the quick appearance of Catelyn. She announces the assassination attempt against Bran, she told him how they tried to assassinate her, he asked her desperately what happened, she tells him how they burned one of the towers to call the attention of the guards, she also tells him how he fought against the murderer, but he does not say who was the person who killed him or stopped him.

It is Rodrik Cassel who tells him that it was Jon who opened the door of the room when he heard the screams, fought against the murderer, saving his wife and son.

Catelyn looked really hurt knowing she owed her life to the bastard.

They talk to each other, they tell each other so many things in the privacy of a room, yet they whisper several words and pass words written on small pieces of parchment for Catelyn to read and then throw them into the fire.

He can not trust anyone anymore.

That night they spend together, loving each other, remembering the words of eternal and true love between them.

The morning arrives with sad or disconcerting news. His personal guard informs him that the King has been seriously wounded during the hunt, should go and see how Robert is.

But he realizes that it is possible that the man dies, Jory Cassel enters informing him that Renly Baratheon is outside the Brothel looking for him.

Robert's younger brother proposes a coup d'etat, tells him that his brother will not survive and that the kingdom must know the truth about Robert's children.

Catelyn listens to everything without being able to believe it.

To his bewilderment, his wife asks Baelish, whom he considers an important friend, to be present all the time.

Clearly Renly does not trust the man and when Ned refuses to participate in such an act, Renly gives him a sad smile and decides to leave. Ned tries to convince him to support him, to help him pass the kingdom to the legitimate heir who would be Stannis.

Renly laughs in his face at those moments. The youngest of the Baratheons leaves the city with almost fifty knights and Loras Tyrell accompanying him.

Now it is Baelish who asks him to talk to him, but Ned refuses, first he goes to see the King, Catelyn wants to accompany him, but he refuses, does not want to put her in danger.

Get them to bring their daughters in secret. Clearly both are confused when they enter such a place, but seeing their mother both celebrate, both are happy that will give the necessary time to keep them away.

Try to get where Robert, try as fast as he can, wasted a lot of time, but he wanted his daughters to be safe without raising suspicion when summoned by his father when he was in the fortress.

Even so, he hoped that no one had ever seen them enter such an unpleasant place, but he trusted that his guard would remain silent.

Robert is dead when he arrives, the whole castle is a total confusion the Lannister soldiers have rushed looking for the men of Renly, he realizes that it will only be time before they also decide to go against him.

Someone told them about the meeting and thinks they know whose it was.

He leaves the Red Keep dressed as a servant, accompanied by two more hidden guards in the same way. He does not have time to go to the Septa or other members of his guard, he sent a volunteer to look for them, but he knows that it will not do much good.

He has to flee like a vulgar criminal, hidden in the shadows, but when he sees the Lannister looking for every Stark soldier they can find to kill them, he realizes that he has made the right decision.

* * *

**V**

* * *

He did not trust Baelish so he pretended to need his help to talk to the Queen and explain that they had nothing to do with Renly's conspiracy, really helped his wife who begged Baelish.

When the little man left, his men drew their swords and decided to move all over the place taking what they could to hide as simple inhabitants of the capital, go unnoticed despite its northern appearance.

Taking his daughters to the boats was not easy, he had already prepared a boat for several days to get his daughters out of the capital, thanked the gods that the ship was still there, also that he did not tell his eldest daughter or the Queen would know.

Climbing Sansa to the boat is almost impossible to the point that it has the same to cover his mouth for the scandal that was generating. It was bad enough to leave great comrades behind to save his family by facing alone the wrath of the Lannister.

Enter the ship, at first fears an ambush to not find the sailors or the captain, but it is when Jeyne Poole appears that he feels a relief, his other men managed to escape.

At least most of them, six great friends of the Stark house died.

They unfurled the sails of the ship, the ship began to move and Ned feels that he has been living a lie, when finally he sits down and tries to breathe he realizes that he did not say goodbye to Robert, but he really did not have much to say except that he He wrongly killed the Targaryen girl.

But the bad news came in the same boat.

Catelyn cries until the tears are marked on her face, her little Sansa fell for the boy's deceptions or that she wanted to believe - She was no longer a maiden - she spoke words of love that Joffrey told her, he promised.

She does not take things well when they inform her that the boy was a monster disguised as a prince, she denies, fights to the end saying that everything they told her were lies that she had to return to be the queen and give her beautiful princes and princesses.

In the end, she and Arya fight even more and Ned gets tired of it, and he holds Sansa in his room. He does not know what else to do, so he cries for his family, for his fallen friends, for his King despite all the faults.

He cries and before he knows it, he is crying for his father, brother and above all for his sister, he does not really know when it was the last time he shed so many tears, but he is grateful to be alone in his room with his wife.

Thank the Gods for giving Cat

* * *

**VI**

* * *

When they arrive at White Harbor they can not believe it. Renly married Margaery Tyrell and proclaimed himself King, Stannis claiming his legitimate rights of succession had also proclaimed himself King.

The whole kingdom had gone crazy, things did not help that in the absence of news, his son summoned his bannermen, everyone was heading towards Winterfell, some troops would support them from Moat Cailin.

Lord Manderly makes promises of revenge by saying that he will build a great fleet by the treatment presented to his lord, but there comes a point where he asks which King they support and Ned really does not know, in his opinion none of them is worthy to reign.

Evade the subject, his attention is focused on his daughter Sansa, which the Moon tea seems to have made her sick, fears the worst.

They travel to Winterfell, Lord Manderly accompanies them with their male relatives and eight thousand men, the war was a horror and he knew perfectly well that he would have to live again to protect his loved ones.

On the way other noble houses of the north join them. On the way they meet Lord Bolton who gives a little disguised look of surprise at his presence, also his two sons Domeric Bolton and Ramsay Snow.

Ned quickly decides that he likes Domeric and wants Ramsay the farthest from his family or any other living person. By then, with the support of the easternmost northern houses, they have gathered almost sixteen thousand men for the struggle when they arrive at Winterfell, and there are almost twenty thousand of them already gathered.

On the way he decides to send a message to the clans and houses of Skagos knowing that they would not accept a call from his son Robb to not consider him the legitimate lord in the absence of Ned

When he arrives at his home after three difficult weeks between the sea and the hurried way home he meets Robb, Bran, Rickon waiting for him outside the castle, his youngest son jumps into his arms and Ned can not help but show his happiness .

Strongly embraces Robb who does not hesitate to show his fears to the difficulty of having to lead the entire north to the war. But he will not talk about the war, not yet, so in the end he approaches where Bran was being devoured by the happiness of his mother and sisters.

He is happy to be in Winterfell. He is happy to see his whole family, but he knows that someone is missing.

"Where is Jon?"

It is then that Rob frowns at what his father said.

* * *

**VII**

* * *

Talking to his son was not easy, trying to deal with him as a nephew was worse. But he did not blame Jon for being so upset, he really did not expect Lord Reed, his oldest and most trusted friend, to run to the boy at the first rumors of his death telling him the truth.

Jon does not know how to treat him, sometimes he says Lord Stark, other times simply as My Lord and when he tries to avoid touching the subject of his mother he calls him Uncle.

The words hurt him in such a way that he never thought that something like that could affect him.

His old friend apologized saying he had seen his death in one of his dreams, Ned forgives him, Howland saved his life when he stabbed Arthur Dayne in the back, and sooner or later he would have to tell Jon.

When the council of the northern lords meets and everything seems crazy, they do not get a general opinion on whether they should support Renly or Stannis at least everyone agrees not to support Joffrey under any option.

Support for Stannis dies quickly when rumors of his red priestess arrive and he has burned alive several people in the name of his new god.

Ned does not know what to do, does not know who to support, both men are not suitable in his opinion and even though he feels uncomfortable his eyes are focused on Jon, it does not matter if he looks away at the end he looks back at the boy.

Then he remembered the Dragon Egg in Lyanna's crypt, he told himself that it was only a gift without any importance, but if he could really put a worthy person on the throne, someone who could clean up all the corruption, return greatness to the kingdom . But Jon was not an ambitious person, he looked too much like Ned.

Jon will not be his son, but in almost all his behavior was equal to Ned and that worried Ned, it was shown that it was not a minor matter the court of the kingdom, that being honorable and loyal would serve little to the ambitions of Southerners .

It takes several days to gather all the forces of the north, including the island of Skagos, many of these lords of Skagos were reluctantly, with annoyance and resentment, but they knew that they owed loyalty to the Stark house.

Ned takes advantage of this moment to fight against his own demons, Sansa is still sick, is worse than before and fears that it worsens and before the disconcerted look of Catelyn realizes the seriousness.

Moon tea maybe did his job too well, he thought and a part of Ned broke up when Catelyn told him the horrible truth, he lost a grandson and did not know how to feel about it, although the idea was not his, he did not reject when Catelyn forced the girl to drink.

Sansa was never going to forgive him, he would never forgive himself and he knew that things would never be the same. While that was happening all the Lords and commanders of the north were impatient with the refusal to take a side.

Everyone wants revenge was clear when the rumors that Prince Joffrey dishonor Lady Sansa, all reminded Lyanna, the anger flooding to the north.

Every time they mentioned his sister's name he knew it was hard to accept, but if he spoke the truth openly few would support the crazy idea that has been consuming him, they would feel cheated or even offended.

Lyanna was reckless, too much for the taste of many and he did not know how his men would react when they knew he wanted to propose to his nephew for the throne. They need a cause beyond that the boy is the son of Lyanna, Jon is not a Stark, he is not a Snow, to say that they will have a northern kingdom was little when the name and lastname of Jon were totally Targaryen, Valyrian and too southern for many of them.

Lord Bolton also wants to marry Domeric with Sansa, he really has no head for it and was about to shout at the man at his insistence. There is no march yet, the lack of initiative makes men begin to talk more between alliances between their homes, in marriages and Ned is offended when they ask for the hand of all their children in marriage.

Marriage could be salvation.

He walked towards the site, while he saw his little daughter, her beautiful Arya fighting with swords with the other infants, squires who accompanied the army, some seconds or third children.

Ned calls her and she nods happily, hugs her father with all her strength and Ned kisses her forehead lightly.

"Forgive me"

It was the only thing he said; She did not understand exactly the reasons, but days later the girl would be screaming and cursing her father with all her might while trying to be organized by the Ladies of the North.

* * *

**VIII**

* * *

It's Lady Manderly with the help of Barbrey Dustin who forces Arya to behave, her mother Catelyn is silent watching her older daughter being consumed by the pain, she has not realized or maybe she wants to pretend that nothing is happening out there .

"Do you think you'll be the first Lady to be dragged to her wedding?"

Lady Dustin is not very graceful and less the most correct person to deal with a scared girl of 14 years, Arya still does not understand what is happening, does not understand why he should marry his brother - cousin - Just tell her it is necessary to duty.

Family, duty and honor.

Are the words that are repeated constantly, Ned tries to explain that it is the only way to save Jon, the girl doubts, Arya is only fourteen years is two years younger than Sansa, four years younger than Jon.

Stomach revolves Ned, the lords of the north now know the truth and as he feared few of them were happy the news wanted a completely northern government.

They wanted a northern queen, they wanted a northern name, not a King with a northern appearance, but named after a southern house.

Jon hates it and he knows that perfectly.

Jon for his part only observed everything in silence while thinking of fleeing to the wall and while thinking about it, at those times when he was a small child and accompanied his uncle Benjen along with some Stark men to carry supplies to the guard.

He remembered the old master with whom he shared some words - if a day would come when your father had to choose between his honor on the one hand, and his loved ones on the other, what would he do? - His father would do what was right, even if it meant sacrificing his family's happiness.

"Smile is your wedding day!"

Jon tries not to hit Theon in those moments, Robb has refused to talk to Jon, they both feel really uncomfortable in the presence of the other, they do not know how to act, clearly Robb does not agree, Jon was not either, he wants to run away, escape, but can not dishonor the man who seems to have placed so much trust in him.

Arya walks in silence, trying not to release more tears than she has done, she is accompanied by her father, all the northern lords observe, they are silent. A month has passed since Ned returned from the capital, he has assembled a much larger army.

Sixty thousand northerners have gathered at the call of their lord, the man who plans to put his nephew on the throne with his daughter. Ned gets sick of himself, but feels that his father would be proud, celebrating from his grave and that ends up hating himself more.

Jon made it clear that he is not able to reign even if they come out victorious, he has requested a regency with Ned in charge of it, this further supports the claim and the desire to fight from the north.

Ned wonders how long the kingdom will continue without any knowledge of what has been organized here in Winterfell, the queen sent crows requesting that he return to answer for his crimes of having conspired with Lord Renly or King Renly now.

Ned needs allies, the Tully will support him, he hopes the Arryn will do the same, still sends a raven to an old enemy, Balon Greyjoy has the largest and most important fleet of all even after the rebellion.

He tells him clearly that he will return his son Theon, asks another hostage his favorite daughter Asha to marry Robb, would have preferred any other woman, but needs boats to win the war, needs to make sure that he will not be attacked from the back and what better way that assuring old Kraken that his blood will join the Stark lineage.

If only Renly had not married Margaery, he thought with disgust, he also does not feel comfortable thinking about more marriages when his daughter walks scared holding his arm and about to collapse in tears.

He wants to believe that Dorne supported them, but he doubts, why support a son of Lyanna, maybe if he proposed to Sansa in marriage and thought about that is struck mentally, his daughter has a soul and a broken heart. She does not deserve to be taken away until a world that she clearly does not know.

"Who comes before the old gods?"

The question is heard, Arya looks at him with despair and Ned hates himself, curses himself, but can not leave the kingdom in that state, the people, can not let the Baratheons destroy everything between them and then allow the Lannister govern in silence.

If he allows Joffrey to be king it will be another Aerys, if he allows a woman like Cersei and his advisers to reign, it will only be a matter of time before the north becomes even poorer by taxes and more burdens that they would impose on them, people who do not care for them. nothing those whom they should protect and help.

"Daddy!"

Arya whispers in short words. Ned turns his eyes and makes the presentation of his daughter, without turning back, without looking at the face of his children or his family.

Sometimes doing the right thing was the hardest thing of all.


End file.
